Growing Up Bilingual Essay

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Children are the building blocks of society and are also known as the future makers. Children are prone to learn new things and create something unique. (Greig, Taylor, and MacKay, 2007) In this evolving world, modernization is enhancing day by day and researchers believe that the period of childhood has a major social category and children as a distinctive population group. (Kellett, 2010) In recent years, the nature of early years hugely transformed due to several factors such as social cultures, (Rogof, 2003) dual language learning, educational transformation, etc. However, these respective factors emphasize a lot on development, social understanding, holding opinions, and decision-making. (Merewether and Fleet, 2014)

Conversation is the source of communication through language and to represent expression, views, and ideas, the development of language is significantly important. (Bond, 2009) Hence, oral language development is a dominant factor in a child’s ability for the accessibility academic curriculum and literacy skills. It is believed that children who are compromising on literacy achievements are at risk of academic failure due to language barriers and are less likely to respond to reading interventions. (August and Shanahan, 2006; Hart and Risley, 1992; Kieffer,

2008) In the context of language development, the high socioeconomic status of children played an important role in grammatical development as well as in vocabulary. (Hoff et al, 2012)

When a monolingual child takes the initiative to learn another language he or she shows the following expressions:

      • Dominantly uses casual language (which should be encouraged)
      • Children go through a silent period (which should not be neglected and should provided proper response and attention)
      • Children use few words of a second language (should be taught through entertainment i,e songs, rhymes, greetings, and poems)
      • Children use more phrases, and sentences of environmental language (Neaum, 2012)

During early childhood education, language is one of the leading critical issues and it is observed that the education system is furiously transformed in the context of communication, achievement, and growth. Moreover, it is also observed that social influence on dual languages is escalating. According to McCardel and Hoff (2006), the number of children being raised in bilingual homes is large and growing, yet the course of language development in children from bilingual homes is not well described or understood.

Further, the simultaneous adoption of two languages, one after another is not a big task to make anyone exceptional or unusual but learning dual languages in early childhood or infancy is a challenging task that introduces variation in individual differences and children’s experiences. (Grosjean, 2000; Tucker, 1998) However, there is a social bias towards Dual language speakers as they are treated uniquely, and monolingual children seem to be treated as norms. (Genesee, 2003)

According to my point of view, there should be universal gestures and better respect in society towards both bilingual children and monolingual children so that the risk of development of inferiority complexes in children can be restricted effectively. However, knowing multiple languages and using them effectively and appropriately is a personal, professional, and social asset.

References

      1. Greig, A.D., Taylor, M.J. and MacKay, T., 2007. Doing research with children. Sage.
      2. Kellett, M., 2010. Rethinking children and research: Attitudes in contemporary society. Bloomsbury Publishing.
      3. Rogoff, B. 2003. The Cultural Nature of Human Development. New York: Oxford University Press.
      4. Merewether, J. and Fleet, A., 2014. Seeking children’s perspectives: A respectful layered research approach. Early Child Development and Care, 184(6), pp.897-914.
      5. Bond, M.A. and Wasik, B.A., 2009. Conversation stations: Promoting language development in young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(6), pp.467-473.
      6. August, D. and Shanahan, T., 2017. Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Routledge.
      7. Hart, B. and Risley, T.R., 1992. American parenting of language-learning children: Persisting differences in family-child interactions observed in natural home environments. Developmental psychology, 28(6), p.1096.
      8. Tabachnick, S.E., Miller, R.B. and Relyea, G.E., 2008. The relationships among students’ future-oriented goals and subgoals, perceived task instrumentality, and task-oriented self-regulation strategies in an academic environment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(3), p.629.
      9. McCARDLE, P.E.G.G.Y. and Hoff, E.R.I.K.A., 2006. An agenda for research on childhood bilingualism. Childhood bilingualism: Research on infancy through school age, pp.157-165.
      10. Genesee, F. and deWaele, J.M., 2003. Bilingualism: Challenges and directions for future research.
      11. Hoff, E., Core, C., Place, S., Rumiche, R., SeAor, M. and Parra, M., 2012. Dual language exposure and early bilingual development. Journal of Child Language, 39(1), pp.1-27.
      12. Neaum, S. (2012) Language and literacy for the early years.: Sage.

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